People who eat a lot of red meat and processed meats have a higher risk ofseveral types of cancer, including lung cancer and colorectal cancer, USresearchers say.

The work is the first big study to show a link between meat and lung cancer.

It also shows that people who eat a lot of meat have a higher risk of liverand esophageal cancer and that men raise their risk of pancreatic cancer byeating red meat.

"A decrease in the consumption of red and processed meat could reduce theincidence of cancer at multiple sites," Dr Amanda Cross and colleagues atthe US National Cancer Institute wrote in their report, published in thePublic Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine.

The researchers studied 500,000 people aged 50 to 71 who took part in a dietand health study done in conjunction with the AARP, formerly the AmericanAssociation for Retired Persons.

After eight years, 53,396 cases of cancer were diagnosed.

"Statistically significant elevated risks [ranging from 20 per cent to 60per cent] were evident for esophageal, colorectal, liver, and lung cancer,comparing individuals in the highest with those in the lowest quintile ofred meat intake," the researchers wrote.

The people in the top 20 per cent of eating processed meat had a 20 per centhigher risk of colorectal cancer - mostly rectal cancer - and a 16 per centhigher risk for lung cancer.

"Furthermore, red meat intake was associated with an elevated risk forcancers of the esophagus and liver," the researchers wrote.

These differences held even when smoking was accounted for.

"Red meat intake was not associated with gastric or bladder cancer,leukemia, lymphoma, or melanoma," added the researchers.

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